I got three of the semi-new US dollar coins in change over the weekend, the
first time I've ever seen any first-hand, even though they were introduced a few
years ago. Coincidentally, The Simpsons made a joke last night about how
they were contemplating making dollar coins out of chocolate for all the use
they get. Meanwhile, hundreds of years of inflation have passed since our
monetary system was devised, but the Treasury Department still pumps out pennies
by the ton so we can calculate change to the second decimal place, but dollar
coins still meet with resistance here. Too bad, something I enjoyed while
visiting England many years ago was being able to buy things with pound coins...
it made me feel like something out of an old movie to be able to buy a drink
with coinage (you can do that here too, but you'll get a look).